Earlier this week I stepped on Finewein’s excellent post about the T-Wolves new marketing campaign. Before I continue, please take a moment to click here and read his take on the Let’s Build It sensation that is sweeping the nation.
In his latest Three Pointer (in the comments), Britt Robson had a good take on the new marketing campaign:
And I think "Let's Build It," like last year's "Blueprint," is designed far more to entice than to inform. Taylor and company have every right to do that, but, as much as I respect him and do not in any way liken him to a cretin like Dolan, that doesn't mean I have to sit in front of the set and lap up this pablum. Or not call it out for the weak PR that it is.
Here, here. For those of you who haven’t seen it yet, take a few moments to check out the team’s new Let’s Build It site here. The basic thrust of the new marketing campaign is this:
In the spring of 2007, the Minnesota Timberwolves published the “Blueprint for the Future.” It laid out our long-term vision for the team….Over the past year, we have made bold steps and stuck to the plan. And as valued members of our team, we want to keep you informed on both our progress and our ongoing efforts.
What did the original blueprint have to say?
It is no secret that since that trip to the Western Conference Finals, we’ve struggled as a team. Being so close to our goal, we began to tinker with our [original post-1994] plan, hoping that it would give us that slight edge we needed to become a championship team. In hindsight, I now believe we made a mistake in trying to patch up or provide quick fixes to our team, rather than continue to work within a comprehensive plan for our future.
… First, we added Fred Hoiberg and Rob Babcock to our basketball staff to help implement the strategic plan. Secondly, we have secured technology resources for our game preparation and finally, we have doubled our scouting staff to better find emerging talent –both at home and abroad.
…
1) Vision: Randy Wittman is supplying firm and fair leadership, and is also a top-notch basketball strategist.
2) Youth: We have added three very exciting and dedicated young players to anchor our future: Randy Foye, Craig Smith and Rashad McCants.
3) Experience: We have a number of key veterans to supply critical experience.
In addition to Glen Taylor’s words, Rob Babcock, Fred Hoiberg, and Jim Stack all had Mike Trudell “interviews” that featured hard-hitting questions like this:
Q: Do people sometimes forget that no one wants to win more than Glen Taylor, Kevin McHale, your staff and the Wolves players?
I feel for Mr. Trudell. I used to dabble in PA flackery and it was never fun to have to ask/say/pitch such blatant bulls%^t.
Some other highlights from the supplemental “interviews” include Fred Hoiberg talking about Randy Foye:
Hoiberg: In his first few years, Dwyane Wade was pretty much a take-it-to-the-basket guy. He's extended that and extended his game to where now he's a great jump shooter. Michael Jordan did that with his game. So I think it's going to be a very important offseason for Randy this summer. I think you improve the most from the end of your rookie year to the beginning of your second year. It's going to be important for Randy to be here and to work on his shooting, so people will play him honest when they are guarding him on the perimeter.
Yes, he really did drop D-Wade and Michael Jordan in a discussion about Randy Foye. You can read more about Wade and his 39% eFG jumper here.
Hoiberg on Craig Smith’s defense:
He has long arms, so he will be able to guard bigger players. He's more explosive than people think. He positions his body well. He's a very good rebounder both offensively and defensively.
To give the team some credit (and to show that Mr. Trudell beat the odds and actually got some decent information out of the folks he was tasked with interviewing; as a whole he does an excellent job with his Wolves articles--his piece on Bassy is one of my favorite Wolves stories of the year so far; again, I understand how his job works and he does it quite professionally so I don't want to make it seem like my issues with some of the nonsense contained within his pieces has anything to do with his abilities), Stack and Babcock did have some very good and realistic things to say about the team and its future. Here’s Stack on building through free agency:
Stack: The system is set up that way. They make it so you really have the opportunity to keep your best players around, because you can match offers and pay your guys more money. There are several built-in things in the salary cap and collective bargaining agreement that you can do to keep your own guys. Consequently, free agents aren't necessarily the cream of the crop.
Here’s Babcock on what the Wolves needed to add at the time of the 1st blueprint:
We want to improve our shooting ability, and we could use a banging, strong, tough guy inside for help in that area. When you have a team that is not playing .500 basketball, then you definitely have some needs. We need to increase our depth at our inside positions (the 4 and 5)…A physical low post player would be ideal, but those players are extremely difficult to find. We also need to improve our overall shooting ability. This can come from any position, but most likely at the small forward position. Consistently knocking down open shots (and three-point shots) cures a lot of ills. Besides position need we would like to add to the leadership and mental toughness of our ball club.
Yes, yes, yes, yes and yes. To the Wolves’ great credit, they correctly identified what they needed and even though the KG trade provided a big bump in the road, this basic list of needs should not change and I hope they stick to it. If you take a look at next year’s roster, Babcock’s take becomes even more prescient. The squad has zero frontcourt depth and it needs a scoring 3 that is perimeter proficient.
Getting back to what Britt wrote, I know the blueprint is here to move tickets (I admittedly bought some) but some of the quotes from Stack and Babcock are clear indications that there are folks in the front office outside of Taylor and McHale who have a clear idea of what needs to happen going forward. Hopefully, their voices will ring louder than the Iron Range Ape at decision-making time.
Please stay tuned for an overview/comparison of the updated Blueprint: 2008-09.
